—Treasury notes may now be taxed the same as any other money, according to a recent act of Congress.
—The U. S. cruiser Charleston, now at Mare Island Navy Yard, has been ordered to Corea, and it is said the Bennington will shortly follow.
—Japan is said to be raising a large war loan amongst the people at home, and great enthusiasm is manifested in taking subscription.
—The news from the seat of war in Corea is not very definite. It is becoming evident that both China and Japan rushed into war unprepared.
—The State Convention of the Y. M. C. A. will meet in this city September 15. One of the prominent features of the occasion will be an athletic exhibition.
—It is said that China is negotiating a large loan in London, much of which will be taken in silver, and that it is expected silver will materially rise in consequence.
—The London News says that the passage of the new Tariff Bill by the United States Congress has been followed by renewed activity in many branches of the English market.
—The American Railway Union having failed as a labor organization, being unable either to support or procure work for its members, they are endeavoring to get back into their old orders.
—A Pretoria, South Africa, dispatch says that the Kaffirs have risen in rebellion, and are not only murdering farmers, and destroying property, but are besieging the government buildings at Agatha.
—An Omaha dispatch of the 15th inst. says: "The strike of the South Omaha packing house employees is off. After being out three weeks, the men lose all and are trying to get back on the old terms."
—A London Times correspondent sends news from Managua that a protocol has been signed uniting Guatemala, Nicaragua, Salvador, and Honduras under one government, to be known as the Central American Republic.
—It is rumored in Los Angeles, Cal., that an unknown agent is seeking recruits for the Japanese army, offering $25 per month and transportation. The penalty for such action is quite heavy, hence the secrecy of the movement.
—A Topeka, Kansas, dispatch says there is a general movement by strikers along the Atchison, Topeka, and Santa Fe Railroad to recover their old places, but the general manager remains firm in his determination not to take them back.
—The Samoan Chief Malietoa has asked the British admiral of that station to proclaim the islands under the protectorate of the British Government. Owing to the prolonged rebellion, crops have been neglected and famine is threatened.
—It is a significant fact, stated on the authority of an employe of the Pension Office, that of all the dismissals from that department of government since the accession of the present head, not one Roman Catholic has been dismissed.
—Congress has declined to advance $1,800,000 due the Southern Pacific Company for carrying the mails, on the ground that the company is simply the agent of the Central Pacific Railroad Company, which is debtor to the government about $77,000,000.
—Owing to the enactment of new laws and the revival of old ones against Anarchists in France, Germany, and Italy, that class of citizens are fleeing to England, and it is surmised to the United States also. In one day recently about 400 of them arrived in London.
—The steamer which arrived at Victoria, B. C., on the 15th inst., brings news of the death of the king of Siam. The king was the most enterprising man that had ever ruled in that country. Although still under 40 years of age, he had reigned about twenty-six years, and had instituted many reforms in the government.
—The Chinese Government offers the following rewards as inducements to activity in the matter of depredations against the Japanese during the war: For destruction of a large war ship, $10,000; for destruction of a small war ship, $6,000; for the head of a Japanese officer, 200 taels (about $333); for the head of a Japanese private, 100 taels.
—The Commissioner of the General Land Office has been directed to prepare instructions immediately looking to the restoration of 900,000 acres of forfeited railroad lands to settlement under the Homestead Laws. The lands are within the conflicting limits of the Atlantic and Pacific and Southern Pacific Companies, and lie in Southern California.
—Now comes another scientist, Professor Campbell, of Lick Observatory, and says that Mars is not inhabited,—that there is not an atmosphere of sufficient density to sustain human life. But Professor Wiggins' decision that Mars is inhabited by man is based on the "best scientific evidence." So much for the science which is often held up as conclusively refuting the word of God.
—Nearly 400 American Railway Union men who engaged in the late strike, have left this city to look for work. Destitution among their families has been somewhat lessened by contributions, but the local secretary says there is still considerable suffering. Some are selling their household goods for means of support, and just now such goods bring but a small per cent of their original cost.
—A Buffalo, N. Y., dispatch of the 16th inst. reports a wonderful mirage, in which the people of that city were treated to a view of Toronto, Canada, and surrounding country pictured in the heavens. It was what is known as a mirage of the third order, that is, the panorama was not inverted, as in ordinary mirage. Toronto is fifty-six miles from Buffalo, yet so distinct was the picture that the church spires were visible. There was also an extensive view of Lake Ontario, and numerous vessels plying upon its waters.
—Fifteen hundred miners of Spring Valley, Ill., held a meeting on the 16th inst., to listen to a proposition from General Manager Dalzell, of the Spring Valley Coal Company. Mr. Dalzell said he would not victimize any man for any connection he may have had in inaugurating the strike, and that rents and coal would be reduced in proportion to the reduction the miners suffered under the Columbus scale. The proposition was accepted, and this ends the big strike that has kept these mines in idleness for nearly four months. All of which might as well have been done in the first place.
—Trouble has arisen in the Kongo Free State because of the impressment of certain natives into the service of State officials. A strong force of indignant natives recently attacked the government post of Loba, killing two soldiers and taking three prisoners.
—The Constitutional Convention of New York has decided against woman suffrage, and has adopted a registration provision that voters must be registered four weeks before an election; also that a voter must be a citizen of the State sixty days before voting.
—A press dispatch from Omaha, Neb., says that farmers who have lost their corn crops in the western part of the State have, to a large extent, left their farms, and are emigrating overland for eastern points. Several of Omaha's poor have applied for transportation to points where they will be kept over winter by relatives.
—An immense meteor burst over the town of Coffeyville, Miss., on the night of the 15th inst., with a loud report that shook the earth for miles around. Those who witnessed the phenomenon say it resembled a ball of fire passing through the air until it burst to fragments. Pieces of the rock, which have the appearance of volcanic substance, were picked up in the streets of the town the next day.
—It is said that the Japanese Government has decided to revise its treaties with other governments, principally in regard to trials. It proposes to rescind the provisions giving foreigners the right of trial before their own consular courts. In exchange for this, however, certain property rights will be granted not heretofore enjoyed. The object seems to be to make foreigners more directly subject to the government of the country.
—The difference between the recognized prerogatives of erring man and erring woman is well illustrated in the cases of Congressman Breckinridge and his victim, Madeline Pollard. While he is patronized by large audiences of both men and women, she is so far ostracised that even theatrical performers are shocked at the suggestion of her appearance on the stage, and theater owners hardly dare to venture the use of their houses.
—A St. Paul dispatch says a large number of railroad men of that city, who were engaged in the recent strike, are making arrangements to leave the country. Some are trying to go to South Africa, and others to Brazil. Transportation to nearly all foreign countries is now unusually low, and the men, realizing that they have no present chance for work here on account of being blacklisted, will make every possible effort to reach other fields of labor.
—As a result of the great railroad strike, over 2,000 men have been discharged from the employ of the Union Pacific Railroad, and other men are taking their places as fast as needed. Some trouble is expected when it comes to evicting the families of discharged strikers who live in the company's houses, but they will all have to go as fast as the houses are wanted for others, and what help can they hope for from the men who deluded them into the strike?
News and Notes.
By Editor
FOR THE WEEK ENDING AUGUST 20.
RELIGIOUS.
—A daughter of U. S. Senator Martin, of Kansas, has entered a Roman Catholic academy at Leavenworth, with the intention of becoming a nun. She is a recent convert.
—The superintendent of public instruction of the State of New York urgently recommends that reverence for God be made a feature of the education of children during their first two years at school.
—P. P. Bliss, the once noted singing evangelist, together with his wife, was killed in 1876 in a railroad disaster at Ashtabula, Ohio. Since that time his children have received $50,000 income from his interest in "Gospel Hymns."
—A Washington dispatch says that Satolli has decided to remain silent regarding the recent statement that the pope will make the ablegate's authority absolute in this country. Newspaper men are now refused admittance to his residence, and his actions are kept from the public as far as possible.
—The Catholic Mirror represents that while Protestant missionaries in China have fears for their safety if the war with Japan continues, the Catholic missionaries "enjoy perfect security." It would be well for the Mirror to note the words of Paul to Timothy, "All that will live godly in Christ Jesus shall suffer persecution."
—Priest Noonan, of Wilmington, Ill., is charged by a brother priest, O'Gara, with the ecclesiastical crime of appearing on the same platform with Protestant ministers, which he did at a temperance meeting. A quite bitter quarrel is the result, and other charges and countercharges have followed. Noonan has been suspended from active work, and has appealed to the pope.
—Spiritualists represent the "spirit land" as a higher sphere than the present life; but everything that purports to come from there indicates a woful degeneracy. Notable men, whose mundane speeches and writings were wise and scholarly, send back to us (through the mediums) the most absurd nonsense, couched in language that would have caused ridicule if uttered "in the flesh," and the pictures that are represented as coming from there are wretched beyond comparison. The Bible says, "The dead know not anything," and all the efforts of the mediums to show that they do know something have so far miserably failed. It would be to the credit of the dead if the mediums would allow them to "sleep."
—While the W. C. T. U. leaders are waxing ecstatic over the temperance agitation of the Catholic Total Abstinence Union, a leading Catholic journal, organ of Cardinal Gibbons, modifies the situation by saying that "whatever is accomplished for temperance in the Catholic Church in this country must be done by moderation. It is said that the saloon must go; but certainly it must go by degrees, and cannot be done away with at a stroke." To this it adds that "the Catholic Church is never likely to declare that the use of wine is a sin, because, among a great number of other reasons, it is used daily in the mass." The W. C. T. U. will find out that Catholics are not going to take any position that will have the appearance of being led by Protestants. Rome is cunning enough to see that professed Protestantism is coming over to her, and she will let them come. Whatever of popular reform she adopts she will adopt independently, and appropriate the honor to herself.
HISTORY OF THE WALDENSES.
By J. A. Wylie
BY J. A. WYLIE, LL.D.
ILLUSTRATED BY TWENTY FULL-PAGE ENGRAVINGS.
This work describes the conflicts waged by the Waldenses and the martyrdoms they endured in defense of their faith and their liberty. Recent events have brought the Waldenses to notice, and thrown a new light upon the grandeur of their struggle and the important issues which have flowed from it. To them are we to trace the Constitutional liberties that Italy now enjoys. In their mountain fastnesses they maintained the faith of the early Christians, and by their untiring missionary labors this faith was diffused to all the nations of Europe, thus preparing the way for the great Reformation.
Contains 212 pp. Price, 90 cents.
Address, PACIFIC PRESS, Oakland, Cal.
Cleveland Bicycles,
STODDARD & LEE,
306 McAllister St., San Francisco, Cal.
STEPS TO CHRIST.
By Editor
The Pacific Press Publishing Co., Oakland, Cal., have received an entirely new stock of the latest edition of that excellent book entitled "Steps to Christ," by Mrs. E. G. White. The price, postpaid, is only 75 cents. Address as above.
Sunday Law of Santa Clara County
By Editor
Sunday Law of Santa Clara County.—Santa Clara County, in which is San Jose, has a county Sunday-closing law. The municipality also had such an ordinance, which it repealed. The proprietor of the Eagle Brewery, George Scherrer, believing himself to be exempt within the city, opened, we believe, his saloon on Sunday. Justice King found him guilty under the county law. He appealed, and Judge Reynolds, in a decision rendered August 2, affirmed Justice King's decision. Scherrer's counsel contended that, while the city had repealed its Sunday ordinance, the county should not be allowed to legislate adversely. The court held that it was settled in this State that the Board of Supervisors could adopt such a police regulation, and, notwithstanding the power is conferred by the Constitution to the city to do the same, the county law in this case is operative within the city limits. An appeal will be taken to the Supreme Court. It will be interesting to know what the decision of that court will be. The law ought to be set aside as unconstitutional, and would by judges not biased or blinded by tradition and religious prejudice. A Sunday law has no right to an existence on any civil statute book.
SPECIMENS OF "UNION" GOVERNMENT.
By Editor
ONE of the many ridiculous scenes in our government during the brief reign of the American Railway Union, had reference to attendance at the Christian Endeavor Convention at Cleveland, Ohio. The Washington, D. C., delegation were in doubt as to whether it was safe to undertake the journey under the then uncertain condition of affairs; and, while considering the matter, they received a dispatch from the strike leaders giving them permission to go. This was of the same piece as the case of Mrs. Stanford, who, on a journey from Oregon to her home in this State, traveling in her own car on a road in which she owns a large interest, was obliged to stop at Dunsmuir until permitted by the union to continue her journey to San Francisco. And when the permission to proceed was granted, the union deemed it necessary to furnish her a guard to protect her train from possible harm at the hands of their own men, and then actually attempted to pose as having done a very gallant deed. It was hardly worth while to call attention to these things at the time of the excitement, when so many ordinarily sensible people were in enthusiastic sympathy with the move; but now, when they have had time to cool down a little, they may be able to see the absurdity of the union's presumption. If they will ponder these things a little, they may be able to imagine what kind of times we will have when this same spirit, fast becoming dominant throughout the world, shall have secured a little firmer hold.
These things are all predicted in the word of God; it would be well for all to study them in the light of prophecy. "The testimony of the Lord is sure, making wise the simple." Send for our little leaflet, "The Great Strike! A Fulfillment of Prophecy," 8 pages; price, 1 cent. Address Pacific Press Pub. Co., Oakland, Cal.; 43 Bond Street, New York City; 18 West Fifth Street, Kansas City, Mo.
Ex-Strikers Save a Train
By Editor
The Examiner publishes an account of how a Southern Pacific train was saved from a wreck this side of Los Angeles, last week, by ex-strikers. There was a landslide near Lang's Station; the ex-strikers learned of it, and by traveling four miles warned the station agent, thus saving the train from wreck and probable loss of life. The Examiner tells this as though especial credit were due to the men because they were ex-strikers. To ordinary men the deed will seem to be no more than what would be demanded of any man possessing the common instincts of humanity. The wreck of the train meant the probable loss of life of innocent men, women, and children. Who would not put forth extra effort to save a train under such circumstances? He is not worthy of the name of man who would not do it.
TUBERCULOSIS IN COWS.
By Editor
SIMILAR items to the following are becoming more and more common in the daily press; this was clipped from the Examiner of August 3:—
VANCOUVER (B. C.), August 2.—Tuberculosis is prevalent at present among herds of dairy cattle in the neighborhood of this city. The government inspector is now examining all cattle, and yesterday thirty in one hour were shot. The City Council has issued notice advising people to scald milk, while the inspector will test it frequently. Some tumors taken out of cattle weighed as much as seven pounds.
These warnings should not go unheeded. While those of strong digestive powers in active life might not for years be affected with tuberculous milk, yet those who are weak cannot afford to take the risk. Consumption is becoming greatly prevalent, and it is generally agreed that one of its feeders comes from diseased dairies. It is easy for a dairyman, as he looks over his sleek herd, to say, "None of my cows are diseased," but frequently cows which appear healthy and are excellent milkers are badly diseased. The best rule is, unless you know your milk to be wholesome, boil or sterilize it.
Pledges Will Not Give Life
The power of the liquor element is so strong that many Protestant churches are organizing temperance societies and circulating temperance pledges among their flocks. But what ails the church? Ought not the church of Christ to be in and of itself the best temperance society which could be formed? And if it is not, can a temperance society subordinate to the church existing within a church, be an improvement? Or if the temperance society is superior to the church, of what need is the church at all? A church which was composed of converted men and women, as designed by Christ, would need no temperance pledge, no social purity pledge, nor any other reform pledge. And a church that is not dominantly composed of converted men and women cannot be helped by any number of pledges. Pledges will not give life.
The Church and the Saloon Power
The Roman Catholic Church has set itself one of the hardest of tasks in endeavoring to eliminate from its societies saloon keepers. The fact is that two-thirds of all the saloon keepers and whisky sellers of the country are members of the Roman Catholic Church. The Wine and Spirit Gazette challenges Archbishop Corrigan to carry out the decision of Satolli in the archdiocese of New York. The archbishop fails to meet the issue, and it is a question as to whether he will meet the issue in a district where the great majority of saloon keepers are Roman Catholics. The whisky power is mighty, not only in the Roman Catholic Church, but in some Protestant churches. A writer in the Advance of August 9 mentions two cases in Protestant churches where members own saloons, and yet are considered in good standing. And this writer says there are "thousands of saloon keepers in regular standing in the Protestant churches." The power of money is mighty.
Rest in Christ Amid Perilous Times
"MEN's hearts failing them for fear" is one of the characteristics which our Saviour gives of these times: This was well illustrated not long ago in an occurrence in England. The Prince and Princess of Wales were driving in an open carriage when a man rushed toward them and threw a parcel in the carriage at their feet. The prince immediately placed himself between the parcel and the princess to protect her from possible dynamite; but when the package was opened, it was found to contain nothing but flowers. These are, in the words of Holy Writ, "perilous times." The throwing of innocent flowers portends danger. President Carnot expected something harmless and received the death plunge of a dagger; the Prince of Wales seemed to expect dynamite and received flowers. Not a few of the rulers of earth are in fear. "Uneasy lies the head that wears a crown." But there is rest in life's turmoil, rest in Christ Jesus. It is like the shadow of a great rock in a weary land.
The Great Strike and the Sabbath
By Editor
"The Great Strike and the Sabbath."—This is the title of an article in this paper, beginning on the first page. It presents some points in the Sabbath question which, it is hoped, may be helpful to many. This, with the many excellent things in this issue, ought to give the paper a wide circulation.
Australian Addresses
By Editor
Take Notice.—Australian Addresses.—All mail for Mrs. E. G. White, Elder W. C. White, Mr. and Mrs. S. T. Belden, Misses Marian A. Davis, May Walling, Emily C. Campbell, and Mattie V. Lawrence, is Norfolk Villa, Prospect Street, Granville, New South Wales.
The present address of Elder S. McCullagh and Miss Fannie Bolton is Santa Clara, Western Road, Parramatta, New South Wales.
The present address of Elders Geo. B. Starr and A. S. Hickox is Albert Street, Rockhampton, Queensland.
Those who send letters or papers to any of our friends in Australia, or, in fact, to any of our friends in other foreign fields, should be careful to address plainly and fully prepay all postage.
There are now two mails monthly from America to Australasia, one from San Francisco, and one from Vancouver, B. C. The Canadian Australian steamer leaves Vancouver on the 16th of each month. The sailings of the San Francisco steamers for the next two months are as follows: The Mariposa, September 20; the Monowai, October 18. Let our friends who have use for these dates make a note of them.
